In my retirement community, I grafted several limbs of Bradford ornamental pears with Ayers pear. Last year was 4th leaf year and I had 18 fruits on one branch. This year, same branch, no changes, I have zero. A couple other limbs are having their first, modest, success. Is there something I should be doing in order to develop fruit each year on the successful limbs? Should I do some kind of pruning each year to maximize fruiting?
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Do pear trees skip a year?
Many fruit trees have the inherent characteristic of flowering every-other-year. This is usually most prominent on apples and pears. Fruit trees form flowers for a crop the previous year. If too many fruit set on a tree they will inhibit flower initiation and development for the next year.
Found that online…
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Thanks for that. If that’s the case, there doesn’t seem to be much I can do to change it. I wonder if that applies to the whole tree (and other grafted branches) or just to the ‘fully fruited’ branch from last year. In any case, I think I’ll keep grafting these otherwise little use Bradfords and try to get edible fruit showing.
Shuf
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The very best year ever for my Early Mcintosh apple… I mean it was loaded with beautiful nice sized apples…
The next year it took a year off and bore none.
One thing that can help is to thin the fruit to something more reasonable.
Instead if 17 fruit on one branch… perhaps half or 1/3 of that ? and the branch would have produced more this year.
Good luck !
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Don’t get disappointed if you don’t get fruit next year even after thinning. Some trees will stick to their biennial schedule no matter what (unless the what in question is extreme yo-yo weather).
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That is normal behavior for ayers. It has a tendency to bear biennial. It crops very heavy which also makes the pears small. If you thin heavily it produces pears every year. Why you might ask dont people always thin? There are freezes and pollination issues. Most people take what they can get when they can get it. If late freezes are not an issue in your area then thin next year. I have about 5 ayers pears and at least one produces every year. Biennial production isn’t a bad thing if you have multiple pear trees.
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